If you want better character consistency
Choose Sterling Point. It scores 5.0 vs 2.0 for character consistency, with a 4.5 overall score.
DTF St. Louis Review
Bottom Line
Choose DTF St. Louis for daring performances, offbeat humor, and a surprisingly tender study of loneliness. Skip it if slow pacing, nonlinear storytelling, or a murder mystery that sometimes feels secondary will frustrate you.
Best for
Viewers who like character-first dark comedy, melancholy suburban noir, unconventional dialogue, and mysteries that are more interested in people than procedural answers.
Not for
Viewers who want a fast, conventional whodunit, consistently laugh-out-loud comedy, or straightforward chronology may find the pacing and tonal oddness frustrating.
Verdict
DTF St. Louis works best when its murder case becomes a doorway into loneliness, shame, desire, and the strange intimacy between Clark and Floyd. Reviewers are unusually consistent about the strength of the performances, especially David Harbour, while Jason Bateman and Linda Cardellini make the central triangle slippery and emotionally credible. The precise visuals, peculiar dialogue, and dry sexual humor give the series a personality few shows share. The tradeoff is structure: several critics find the early episodes slow, the nonlinear mystery less compelling than the character drama, or the tonal shifts forced. The finale wins strong praise for emotional force, though one critic argues its tragic resolution undercuts the season’s more nuanced ideas about male vulnerability.
Feature Scorecards
Summary
53 reviewed features-
Very positive 4.5-5.030 (57%)
-
Positive 3.5-4.412 (23%)
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Neutral 2.5-3.48 (15%)
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Negative 1.5-2.43 (6%)
Pros highlights
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The lead trio is the clearest point of agreement. Bateman, Harbour, and Cardellini are repeatedly described as excellent, nuanced, career-best, or central to why the strange material works.
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Most reviewers respond well to the dry, surreal, sexually awkward comedy, with several calling it hilarious. A minority finds the jokes muted, forced, or only mildly funny.
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This is the strongest consensus beyond the acting: reviewers repeatedly praise the exploration of loneliness, shame, midlife dissatisfaction, male vulnerability, desire, and the need for genuine connection.
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The strongest praise centers on how Clark, Floyd, and Carol gain layers as new perspectives expose their loneliness, contradictions, and hidden needs. Reviews often describe the shift from pity or suspicion toward empathy.
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The show’s mix of absurd comedy, melancholy, sexuality, and mystery is admired by many as a difficult balancing act. Others find the shifts forced, inconsistent, or tonally nightmarish.
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The desaturated palette, brutalist spaces, off-kilter angles, and carefully controlled compositions give the series a distinctive look. One reviewer finds the grayness dull, but most see it as purposeful.
Cons highlights
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The dark comedy and character drama generally fare better than the murder-mystery machinery. Some critics call the blend ideal, while others think the crime framework is conventional, distracting, or unnecessary.
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Pacing is a recurring weakness. Several critics say the mystery scenes stall momentum or the early episodes take too long to click, although one review appreciates the deliberate slow-burn buildup.
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Season pacing is mixed: the show often grows stronger as it proceeds, but several critics feel the seven-episode shape stretches thin material or becomes ponderous in places.
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The broader story draws some of the harshest disagreement. Supporters see a fresh, well-written mystery about loneliness, while detractors think the crime framework stretches or obscures stronger character material.
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The premiere sharply divides reviewers. One calls it especially strong, while several others find the opening disjointed or off-putting before the series improves in episode two and beyond.
Cast & Creators
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Floyd SmernitchHarbour receives the most uniformly enthusiastic acting praise, bringing Floyd empathy, physical comedy, vulnerability, and a soft earnestness that keeps the character sympathetic. Multiple critics call him the standout or describe the work as career-level.
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CarolCardellini’s Carol is praised for deadpan precision, emotional reserve, and the ability to shift between femme-fatale opacity and genuine desperation. Reviewers repeatedly highlight the nuance beneath her cold or manipulative surface.
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Clark ForrestBateman is repeatedly praised for turning Clark’s bland everyman surface into something anxious, selfish, sincere, and quietly sinister. Several critics call the performance among his best work, with only mild reservations about his range.
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Writer/DirectorConrad’s writing and direction are mostly praised for precise visual control, unusual dialogue, empathetic character work, and the blend of comedy with melancholy. A few critics remain skeptical of the tonal shifts and mystery mechanics.
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HomerJenkins is praised as a reliably terrific, dry straight man whose old-school detective becomes a strong comic and dramatic counterweight to the show’s sexual and emotional strangeness.
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Jodie PlumbSunday earns praise for sharp screen presence and for working brilliantly against Jenkins, giving Jodie a more observant, modern energy that helps the detective pairing grow beyond its initial friction.
Compared With Category Average
Compared with other TV Shows, this product is above average in sexual content level, language level, continuity, near average in tonal consistency, visual style, below average in episode length, release schedule, genre satisfaction.
Comparison summary
53 compared features-
Above average 0.4+ pts higher35 (66%)
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Same as average within 0.3 pts9 (17%)
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Below average 0.4+ pts lower9 (17%)
Largest category differences
| Attribute | This product | Category average | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| sexual content level | 5.0 | 3.0 | +2.0 |
| language level | 4.0 | 2.3 | +1.7 |
| continuity | 5.0 | 3.3 | +1.7 |
| realism | 5.0 | 3.3 | +1.7 |
| editing quality | 5.0 | 3.4 | +1.6 |
| product placement | 4.0 | 2.4 | +1.6 |
| character development | 5.0 | 3.8 | +1.2 |
| originality | 4.6 | 3.3 | +1.3 |
Consider This Instead
If you want better dialogue quality
Choose How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, Season 1. It scores 5.0 vs 4.1 for dialogue quality, with a 4.4 overall score.
If you want better episode length
Choose Adults, Season 2. It scores 5.0 vs 2.0 for episode length, with a 4.4 overall score.
If you want better cast chemistry
Choose The Bear, Season 5. It scores 5.0 vs 4.4 for cast chemistry, with a 4.2 overall score.
Compared in Reviews
Products reviewers directly compared with this model, grouped into quick takeaways.
American Beauty
- Similar: suburban ennui and off-kilter tone The review compares the central triangle to American Beauty filtered through a more off-kilter comic sensibility.
Black Rabbit
- Similar: crime-thriller tone and visual style The reviewer says Black Rabbit fans may recognize a similar tone and style here.
Fargo
- Similar: offbeat mystery tone and character style The review calls Fargo the closest analogue for DTF St. Louis’s purposeful weirdness and regional oddball tone.
FAQ
Is DTF St. Louis mainly a murder mystery?
It uses a death investigation as its framework, but many reviewers think the stronger material is the character study of loneliness, friendship, marriage, and desire.
Is DTF St. Louis funny?
Mostly, but in a dry, awkward, surreal way. Many critics find it very funny, while a minority says the jokes are too muted or forced.
How are the performances?
The acting is the clearest consensus strength. David Harbour draws especially strong praise, with Jason Bateman and Linda Cardellini also repeatedly singled out.
Does the show start slowly?
For several reviewers, yes. The premiere can feel disjointed or off-putting, and some mystery-heavy sections slow momentum, though others praise the patient buildup.
Does the finale work?
Most finale reactions are strongly positive and call the ending haunting or emotionally satisfying, but one critic argues the tragic resolution retreats into a harmful cliché.
Is it better to binge or watch weekly?
Multiple reviews describe the series as highly bingeable, and one full-season viewer specifically says it works better once the episodes can be watched together.
Sample Expert Reviews We Analyzed
These are a few of the reviews included in our analysis.
Video Reviews
YouTube - Atomic Cult Media
- Review score
- 5.0
Article Reviews
mrhipster.com
DTF St. Louis is not a show for everyone, but the original characters, writing and performances make for one of the more memorable series I...
- Review score
- 5.0
nytimes.com
The relationship between characters played by Jason Bateman and David Harbour went places that most TV shows avoid.
- Review score
- 4.2
indiewire.com
The DTF St. Louis finale not only crafts a satisfying explanation of what happened to poor Floyd Smernitch. It asks us all to reveal more of...
- Review score
- 5.0
newyorker.com
Vinson Cunningham reviews the new HBO comic whodunnit, with David Harbour and Linda Cardellini, in which Jason Bateman excels as the...
- Review score
- 4.8
theplaylist.net
‘DTF St. Louis,’ a grim noir mystery that uses a kinky murder case to explore the haunting reality of the male loneliness epidemic.
- Review score
- 5.0
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